Russiagate queen reigns no more: Rachel Maddow ratings tank after collusion narrative implodes

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Once a shining beacon of hope for Russiagate true believers, it looks like Rachel Maddow has left her best days behind her; MSNBC’s conspiracy queen has seen her show plummet to fifth place in cable news ratings. What happened?

You rise fast and fall hard in the fickle world of television. Just last April, Maddow overtook Fox News’ Sean Hannity to claim the title of most-watched host across cable news. She had become a reliable source for Russigate aficionados to get their daily dose of crazy.

Sadly for Maddow, the latest data released by Nielsen shows her show in fifth place with a total audience of 2.4877 million viewers for July – behind Hannity, Tucker Carlson, Laura Ingraham and The Five (all Fox News shows).

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Top 5 Russia-conspiracy fails of Rachel ‘highest-ratings-ever’ Maddow

For context, in January this year, Maddow still boasted an audience of nearly 3.3 million, which means she shed around 800,000 viewers in just six months. Maddow was also in fifth place among viewers in the 25-54 age range – the group most-favored by advertisers.

Ouch.

Once dubbed “the smartest person on TV” by Forbes (really), this is certainly not the big payoff Maddow was expecting, having dedicated three years of her career to breathlessly covering every twist and turn in the anticlimactic Trump-Russia “collusion” drama.

There’s no question that Maddow lost a major component of what had made her show so popular when former special counsel Robert Mueller showed up in March having found no evidence of conspiracy or collusion between the 2016 Trump campaign and Russia.

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As former MSNBC host Krystal Ball noted last week in candid criticism of her former network colleague, Maddow had “built segment after segment, show after show, on building anticipation for a big reveal” that never materialized. Indeed, Maddow became something of an expert at promising her audience bombshells that never amounted to anything.

Recall the dramatic teaser tweet she sent out in March 2017 one hour before her show, claiming: “We’ve got Trump tax returns. (Seriously).” When the story turned out to be a big nothingburger (all she had was one boring form which revealed nothing particularly interesting), Maddow lashed out at her own viewers, saying people had “leapt” to conclusions.

Ball also accused Maddow of doing damage to the left, having become “swept up in the ratings bubble” that was being sustained by “feverish Russian conspiracy theories.”

It’s true. Seemingly convinced that the Russiagate story would end with Donald Trump being dragged from the White House in a dressing gown with shackles around his feet, Maddow had abandoned major issues that are important to the American left and trafficked in mental conspiracies and outright fear-mongering instead.

How about that time she suggested that Russia might kill the power in Fargo during a polar vortex and let everyone freeze to death? Or the time she spent three whole minutes dramatically building up to ‘reveal’ that Russia and North Korea share a border – followed by 15 more minutes trying to prove that Vladimir Putin had orchestrated and secretly controlled the Singapore summit between Trump and Kim Jong-un.

A study of her coverage by the Intercept last year showed that 53 percent of Maddow’s segments focused only on Russia over a six-week period between February and March.

Of course, there were no slaps on the wrist for Maddow at MSNBC HQ for getting stories drastically wrong or failing to deliver on her promises of Trump-destroying bombshells. In fact, it seemed the more dramatic and off-the-wall her coverage became, the more she was celebrated for it. This staggering fall from ratings grace can be her comeuppance.

Boo hoo, Rachel. If you need to cry, you could always use the piles of money you made from lies as tissues.

Danielle Ryan

Danielle Ryan is an Irish freelance writer based in Dublin. Her work has appeared in Salon, The Nation, Rethinking Russia, teleSUR, RBTH, The Calvert Journal and others.

 

Five Of The Craziest Moments From The CNN Tuesday Night Democratic Debate (VIDEOS)

By Aleister – JULY 31, 2019

The first night of the second 2019 Democratic debate on CNN had some wild moments.

We’re not going to bother with the moments the candidates or the CNN audience liked.

We want to point out some of the crazier moments that will probably be overlooked by the media.

Here are five examples.

5. Marianne Williamson

While talking about Democrats taking corporate donations, Williamson invoked a joke from Seinfeld and suggested that voters are going to “yadda, yadda, yadda, right over them. Watch:

4. Pete Buttigieg

When the subject of the minimum wage came up, Pete Buttigieg, who frequently implies that he is more Christian than anyone else, suggested that you are not a decent Christian if you don’t support raising the minimum wage. Watch:

3. Don Lemon

CNN host Don Lemon was included as a moderator in this debate for some reason. He is not a journalist, he is an opinion guy and he absolutely hates Trump. He made that crystal clear with this question. Note the wording:

2. John King

John King, another CNN host, said something factual in his post-debate analysis. He suggested that this field of candidates is further left than any Democrat who has ever won the presidency, including Obama. Watch:

1. Elizabeth Warren

When asked a direct question about whether her healthcare plans would raise taxes on the middle class, Warren refused to give a straight answer. What a surprise. Watch:

Bonus: Bernie Sanders

Bernie got louder and louder as the night went on and Tim Ryan commented on it.

What a clown show.

Nolte: Snopes Spreads Fake News to Blacklist Christian Satire Site the Babylon Bee

Woman with Bible in front of face.

By John Nolte

The far-left “fact check” outlet Snopes is using fake news to blacklist the Christian satire site the Babylon Bee.

Although the Babylon Bee’s own name points to the fact it’s a satire site, although the Babylon Bee is widely known and recognized as a satire site, although the Babylon Bee clearly advertises itself as a satire and “fake news” site, Snopes has launched a fake news jihad to deplatform the Babylon Bee and put it out of business.

Everyone was laughing at Snopes when it started fact-checking the Babylon Bee’s satire pieces; we all howled as the self-serious Snopes labeled obvious satire as “false.” But now we know Snopes actually has an agenda here — and that is to abuse its power as a Facebook-recognized fact checker to blacklist the Babylon Bee, to get the openly Christian satire site algorithmically hidden and demonetized, which will effectively put it out of business.

The Babylon Bee is concerned enough — and rightfully so — that it has retained an attorney.

In a statement released Tuesday, the satire site writes:

Last week, Snopes fact-checked us again. We’re pretty used to that. But this time, instead of merely rating the article as “false,” they questioned whether our work qualifies as satire, and even went so far as to suggest that we were deliberately deceiving our readers. Basically, they treated us as a source of intentionally misleading fake news, rather than as the legitimate, well-known satire publication that we are. This is a big deal.

Yes, this is a big deal, because as we all now know, once the fascist left smears ideas and opinion they do not approve of as “fake news,” people and web sites start to disappear forever.

Although Snopes has been “fact-checking” the Babylon Bee since July of 2016, everyone took notice back in March when Snopes published a disingenuous fact check that resulted in Facebook threatening the Babylon Bee with “limitations and demonetization.”

CNN Purchases Industrial-Sized Washing Machine to Spin News Before Publication” was the Bee’s title, but Snopes still pretended it needed to “fact check” a ridiculous satire piece.

Facebook eventually backed off, but it is likely no accident that the Snopes’ attack and Facebook’s subsequent blacklisting threat occurred just after CNN’s Brian Stelter — a rabid left-winger and conspiracy theorist — published a tweet accusing the Bee of being a “fake news site” disguising itself as satire. He eventually deleted it.

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In April, Snopes again “fact-checked” another blatantly obvious piece of satire, this one aimed at Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY).

“Did U.S. Rep. Ocasio-Cortez Repeatedly Guess ‘Free’ on TV Show ‘The Price is Right?’” asked Snopes in its stupid “fact-checking” article.

Obviously, she didn’t. That’s the joke.

Things got a whole lot more serious last week, though, when Snopes openly accused the Babylon Bee of engaging in the spreading of fake news.

Snopes “fact checked” a July 22 Babylon Bee piece satirizing State Rep. Erica Thomas (D-GA), the lawmaker who was caught lying earlier this month about being told by a white man in a Publix grocery store to “go back where she came from.”

In the end, Thomas was forced to admit she lied. The man in question is not only Cuban, he’s a Democrat who probably voted for her. What’s more, witnesses claim she was the one screaming “go back,” not him.

Anyway, the Babylon Bee satire piece was titled: “Georgia Lawmaker Claims Chick-Fil-A Employee Told Her To Go Back To Her Country, Later Clarifies He Actually Said ‘My Pleasure.’”

But for its pedantic “fact check,” Snopes accused the Babylon Bee of deliberately misleading people.

“We’re not sure if fanning the flames of controversy and muddying the details of a news story classify an article as ‘satire,’” Snopes wrote as its sub-headline, adding:

The Babylon Bee has managed to fool readers with its brand of satire in the past. This particular story was especially confusing for some readers, however, as it closely mirrored the events of a genuine news story, with the exception of the website’s changing the location from “Publix” to the more controversial Chick-Fil-A.

Babylon Bee founder Adam Ford exposes Snopes in this must-read Twitter thread.

Over the past couple years, Snopes has “fact-checked” the Babylon Bee some 20 times! But if you look at the most recent “fact-checks,” the nine since June of last year, they are all in defense of leftists: Bernie Sanders. Ilhan Omar, CNN, Bill Clinton, California legislators, Ruth Bader Ginsberg, etc.

Although the Babylon Bee regularly satirizes President Trump, Republicans, and even Christians, it is quite telling that Snopes — which falsely identifies itself as non-partisan — never rushes in to save right-leaning targets from the Babylon Bee’s effort to mislead people.

Obviously, what we have here is CNN and Snopes manufacturing a “fake news” controversy as a means to blacklist a satire site — not because the satire site is effective at spreading fake news, but because it is  effective at mocking the media, Democrat politicians, and their inane ideas; effective at using comedy to illuminate a truth the far-leftists at Snopes do not want illuminated.

Thankfully, the Babylon Bee sees this “latest smear from Snopes [as] both dishonest and disconcerting.”

“Snopes appears to be actively engaged in an effort to discredit and deplatform us. While we wish it wasn’t necessary, we have retained a law firm to retain us in this matter,” the statement reads.

ANTIFA FLYERS SHOW ICE AGENTS KILLED WITH CROSSBOWS, FIREBOMBS IN SIEGE ON SOUTHER BORDER

Antifa Flyers Show ICE Agents Killed With Crossbows, Firebombs In Siege on Souther Border

10-day ‘Border Resistance’ militancy training tour aims to break open U.S. border

By Jamie White

Antifa is preparing for a violent 10-day siege on the southern border in El Paso, Texas, in an effort to “shut down” Immigration and Customs Enforcement and open the border to illegals.

Journalist Andy Ngo, who was brutally attacked by Antifa in Portland, Oregon, last month, showed flyers Antifa is using to promote their effort for September, featuring images of ICE agents being murdered with bow and arrows and firebombs while anarchists bomb an ICE facility and southern border wall to let illegals flow into the U.S.

“Antifa is leading aBorder Resistance militancy training tour that will converge on a 10-day siege in El Paso, TX,” Ngo tweeted Monday.

“The promotional image shows border enforcement officers being killed & government property fired bombed. Organizers asking for ‘white comrades’ to pay for others.”

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The flyers say Antifa’s planned assault will run from September 1st-10th, and asks for financial support from mainly “white comrades.”

This comes just days after President Trump announced his administration may soon designate Antifa as a “major organization of terror.”

“Consideration is being given to declaring ANTIFA, the gutless Radical Left Wack Jobs who go around hitting (only non-fighters) people over the heads with baseball bats, a major Organization of Terror (along with MS-13 & others). Would make it easier for police to do their job!” he tweeted Saturday.

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Antifa’s violence has been in the spotlight not just after Ngo’s assault, but after an Antifa member was killed while trying to firebomb an ICE facility in Tacoma, Washington earlier this month.

69-year-old Willem Van Spronsen had written a manifesto identifying himself as Antifa, citing Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s rhetoric calling ICE processing centers “concentration camps.”

However, that may not stop the media from cheerleading the far-left group, which they’ve been doing in earnest since 2016.

GERMAN SWIMMING POOL FORCED TO INTRODUCE ID CHECKS TO STOP HARASSMENT BY MIGRANT YOUTHS

German Swimming Pool Forced to Introduce ID Checks to Stop Harassment by Migrant Youths

“Those who do not comply, will not be let in.”

By Paul Joseph Watson – JULY 30, 2019

A swimming pool in the German city of Düsseldorf has been forced to introduce mandatory ID card checks in an effort to stop sexual assaults and rowdy behavior by migrant youths that has required the police to be called out on numerous occasions.

Following a crisis summit between administrators, the mayor and the police chief, an online ticket system linked to people’s IDs has been established to control who is allowed to enter the pool.

“In Rheinbad we have introduced an identity card for all visitors,” said Düsseldorf Mayor Thomas Geisel. “Those who do not comply, will not be let in. It is absolutely unacceptable and inconceivable that families who want to spend their free time here are harassed by youth gangs.”

As we reported earlier this month, the pool had to be closed twice after hundreds of male migrants harassed a family, prompting a huge police deployment.

Last Friday, the pool had to be cleared again as around 60 North African migrants began engaging in aggressive beahvior. Outnumbered, the six security guards on patrol had to call police for backup. 20 officers arrived and the pool was closed.

“It should be known, that before the migrant crisis, German swimming pools didn’t need six security guards to maintain order. It’s likely that they didn’t need any at all,” comments Voice of Europe.

It remains to be seen how authorities will prevent the kind of people who cause mayhem from using the pool. They could only really do so by barring people from North African countries, which would set off a nationwide controversy and lead to widespread accusations of racism.

Companies people love to hate: World’s most despised corporations

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Issues of privacy, user manipulation, and tax avoidance have turned public sentiment against big tech firms, once the darlings in the otherwise hated corporate world. But how quickly things change, as RT Business finds out.

Facebook

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One of the big five tech companies, Facebook has been buried by numerous scandals, from hacking to misappropriating user data and spreading hate speech. The company has agreed to pay a record-breaking $5 billion fine over privacy violations after allowing as many as 87 million users’ data to fall into the possession of political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica. Facebook, along with other technology companies, has also been accused of unlawfully stifling competition in its rise to power.

Facebook agrees to pay record $5bn fine over privacy violations, critics call it a ‘parking ticket’

Bayer/Monsanto

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Dubbed ‘a marriage made in hell,’ the mega-merger between German drug company Bayer and US GMO seeds and pesticides maker Monsanto created one of the most powerful agribusinesses in the world. Following the multibillion-dollar takeover, Bayer is now the target of some 18,400 lawsuits over Monsanto’s Roundup weed killer and its active ingredient glyphosate. The herbicide has allegedly caused grave illnesses such as cancer.

US judge cuts Monsanto cancer victims’ award from $2 billion to $86 million

Google

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Another former Silicon Valley darling from the ‘Gang of Four’ (Google, Amazon, Facebook, Apple), Google has also been engulfed in massive scandals. These include accusations of tax avoidance, misuse and manipulation of search results, unauthorized use people’s intellectual property, and the compilation of data which could violate user privacy.

Big Tech ‘monopolies’ targeted in sweeping new antitrust probe by US Justice Department

The tech giant has also been accused of trying to cover up a sexual misconduct scandal in the company. As the global hunt for tax avoiding firms intensifies, Google and other Big Tech companies are being targeted by countries including Spain and France, seeking to force the digital companies to pay more taxes in the markets where they operate.

Johnson & Johnson

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In the healthcare industry there are few brands better known than the US drug company Johnson & Johnson. The maker of consumer staples ranging from Band-Aid bandages to baby shampoo has faced a number of controversies in its 133-year history. J&J knew about asbestos in its baby products since the 1970s and worked to conceal it from federal regulators and the public, investigations show.

Hidden ‘for decades’: Johnson & Johnson may have known about ‘carcinogens’ in baby powder since 1971

The pharmaceutical giant is facing thousands of lawsuits alleging that its baby powder product caused cancer, but it has always denied the allegations and insisted that the product is safe. After the latest revelations, the firm is now contesting claims that it has contributed to the opioid epidemic in the US.

JP Morgan

Despite the relatively low standards of the banking industry and the unpopularity of banks in general, JP Morgan has managed to outdo the competition to become the most despised. The largest financial institution in the US, with operations worldwide, the Wall Street bank is facing an onslaught of endless investigations and scandals.

READ MORE: JP Morgan, Barclays, RBS among big banks facing UK class action over Forex rigging

It is among the major global banks being sued by investors for rigging the global forex exchange (Forex) market. Its chief executive Jamie Dimon was awarded with $31 million in total compensation for his work in 2018. The pay exceeded his record compensation of $30 million in 2007 before the financial crisis.

JP Morgan cargo ship released, minus the $1.3 billion worth of cocaine found onboard

But the climax to all of this was last month’s unprecedented drugs bust after US federal authorities seized a cargo ship at the Port of Philadelphia belonging to a fund run by JP Morgan. After confiscating nearly 20 tons of cocaine on board worth $1.3 billion, authorities later released the vessel.

Other notable mentions:

Amazon

Nestle

Big Tobacco

Big Oil

Big Pharma

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